Advanced Search >
Help Me Search

Music

All-Time High (And Low) Scores
Best Of 2009
Best Of 2008
Best Of 2007
Best Of 2006
Best Of 2005
Best Of 2004
Best Of 2003
Best Of 2002
Best Of 2001
Best Of 2000

Upcoming &
Recent Releases

sort by namesort by score

70 AFI
65 Air
71 Alice In Chains
77 Amerie
85 The Antlers
75 Arctic Monkeys
68 As Tall As Lions
82 Atlas Sound
75 The Avett Brothers
67 Backstreet Boys
56 Bad Lieutenant
68 Devendra Banhart
72 Lou Barlow
88 Baroness
69 Basement Jaxx
81 David Bazan
72 Brendan Benson
72 The Big Pink
96 Big Star
46 Billy Talent
75 The Black Crowes
51 Black Mold
68 Blitzen Trapper
75 BLK JKS
77 A.A. Bondy
73 The Bottle Rockets
63 Box Elders
65 Boys Like Girls
76 Brand New
73 Tyondai Braxton
87 Brother Ali
70 Ian Brown
75 Michael Buble
78 Built To Spill
61 Colbie Caillat
79 Califone
68 Mariah Carey
84 Brandi Carlile
73 Julian Casablancas
83 Rosanne Cash
69 Castanets
65 The Cave Singers
84 Nick Cave & Warren Ellis
79 Vic Chesnutt
75 Choir Of Young Believers
81 Circulatory System
68 The Clean
84 The Clientele
71 Cobra Starship
85 Converge
71 Eric Copeland
80 Cymbals Eat Guitars
71 Datarock
59 Dead By Sunrise
76 Dead Man's Bones
88 Destroyer
63 The Dodos
77 Drive-By Truckers
66 Bob Dylan
44 The Entrance Band
67 Esser
69 Fanfarlo
63 Felix Da Housecat
68 Fink
78 The Flaming Lips
66 Flight Of The Conchords
79 Florence And The Machine
67 John Fogerty
83 Fuck Buttons
71 Nelly Furtado
47 Gary Go
68 Ghostface Killah
79 Girls
69 Gossip
62 David Gray
66 David Guetta
79 Richard Hawley
74 Mayer Hawthorne
66 Headlights
79 HEALTH
77 Joe Henry
66 Hockey
69 Whitney Houston
68 Imogen Heap
59 Jack Ingram
79 Islands
73 Jessie James
74 Jamie T
65 Jay-Z
51 Jet
69 Daniel Johnston
76 Karen O And The Kids
72 Toby Keith
69 Kid Cudi
65 Kings Of Convenience
62 Sean Kingston
64 KISS
76 Kris Kristofferson
68 KRS-One & Buckshot
76 La Roux
84 Miranda Lambert
72 Ledisi
75 Sondre Lerche
56 Juliette Lewis
82 Lightning Bolt
73 Little Dragon
44 Pixie Lott
73 Lyle Lovett
66 Lovvers
75 Baaba Maal
77 Madness
84 Madonna
85 Manic Street Preachers
62 Maps
55 Massive Attack
57 Matisyahu
67 Reba McEntire
66 Tim McGraw
65 Brian McKnight
79 Mew
77 Malcolm Middleton
77 Mika
68 Amy Millan
76 Mission Of Burma
76 Molina And Johnson
80 Monsters Of Folk
62 Morrissey
85 Mount Eerie
78 The Mountain Goats
62 Múm
72 Muse
66 Willie Nelson
78 Nirvana
97 Nirvana
72 Nisennenmondai
80 No Age
71 Noah And The Whale
75 Noisettes
79 Nudge
47 Dolores O'Riordan
74 Os Mutantes
73 Osso
81 Owen
76 Paramore
76 Pastels And Tenniscoats
51 Sean Paul
80 Pearl Jam
66 Jemina Pearl
72 Jack Penate
65 Phish
82 Pissed Jeans
61 Pitbull
79 A Place To Bury Strangers
66 Robert Pollard
79 Polvo
72 Porcupine Tree
80 Q-Tip
80 R.E.M.
89 Raekwon
69 Rain Machine
70 Ramona Falls
75 Dizzee Rascal
75 The Raveonettes
76 Jay Reatard
82 Reigning Sound
81 Rodrigo Y Gabriela
79 Russian Circles
69 Buffy Sainte-Marie
73 Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions
61 Sally Shapiro
78 Shudder To Think
70 Simian Mobile Disco
58 Simple Minds
72 Six Organs Of Admittance
69 Slaughterhouse
80 Slayer
61 The Slits
62 Mindy Smith
78 Soulsavers
77 Speech Debelle
58 Spiral Stairs
58 Squarepusher
55 Steel Panther
73 Sufjan Stevens
52 Rod Stewart
65 Joss Stone
75 George Strait
83 Barbra Streisand
76 A Sunny Day In Glasgow
74 Susanna And The Magical Orchestra
78 The Swell Season
76 David Sylvian
83 Taken By Trees
78 Tegan And Sara
68 The Temper Trap
72 Themselves
82 They Might Be Giants
67 Third Eye Blind
66 J Tillman
69 Times New Viking
57 Tokio Hotel
67 Trey Songz
71 The Twilight Sad
58 Carrie Underwood
56 The Used
68 Various Artists
70 Various Artists
74 Various Artists
77 The Very Best
71 Kurt Vile
67 Vivian Girls
71 Volcano Choir
76 Rufus Wainwright
59 Weezer
80 White Denim
76 Why?
83 Wild Beasts
80 Wildbirds & Peacedrums
59 Andrew W.K.
71 Patrick Wolf
67 Wolfmother
84 The xx
79 Yo La Tengo
83 Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band
51 Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson
59 Zero 7

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.

Stars Of CCTV

EMAILPRINTby Hard-Fi

Hard-Fi reviews
74
8.5 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 22 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 36 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >

Album Info

Label: Atlantic

Release Date: 14 March 2006

Discs: 1 disc

Genre(s): Indie, Rock

Summary

The English indie rockers garnered a lot of attention with this debut album, which combines elements of ska, dance and punk.

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

90

Billboard

"Stars of CCTV" is that rare British import that lives up to the advance billing.

Read Full Review >
90

Dot Music

The triumphant "Star's Of CCTV" will be to guitar bands what The Street's "Original Pirate Material" was to the UK urban music: essential listening.

Read Full Review >
90

musicOMH.com

It possesses that raw energy that was present in two other exciting debuts, Is This It? by The Strokes and Definitely Maybe by Oasis.

Read Full Review >
90

New Musical Express

The wonder of 'Stars...' is how magnificently alive all this suburban angst sounds.

Read Full Review >
90

Lost At Sea

Archer and friends deserve praise for making an album so rooted in its locale so appealing to a wider audience due to the never-ending amount of catchy hooks and melodies on display on Stars Of CCTV.

Read Full Review >
83

Entertainment Weekly

An album of tight and spiky blue-collar dance rock. [17 Mar 2006, p.114]

80

Q Magazine

A rousing debut. [Aug 2005, p.123]

80

NOW Magazine

These guys are passionate about what they're doing.

Read Full Review >
78

Austin Chronicle

Fuses the chavvy charm of working-class Britain to a stream of anthemic, pure pop melodies in the service of pissed and pissed-off youth worldwide.

Read Full Review >
75

Stylus Magazine

For fans of indie-rock with a poppy slant, Stars of CCTV is an absolute necessity.

Read Full Review >
73

Pitchfork

Despite some interesting accoutrements (tasteful trumpets yay, bombastic strings meh) and some game attempts at eclecticism (acoustic pluck wicked, piano ballad oh geez), Stars of CCTV is of a part with the varied guitar-driven stuff that their fellow Mercury nominees-- Bloc Party, Kaiser Chiefs, etc.,-- have offered folks this past year.

Read Full Review >
70

The Guardian

Hard-Fi's edge over more derivative rivals lies in a formula that delivers old Specials and Clash reggae vibes with the big-tune ratio of a boy band.

Read Full Review >
70

Uncut

The likes of "Hard To Beat" and "Cash Machine" jack not just the offbeat skank and dubby bass of The Specials but some of their creeping dread and downbeat humanity as well. [Aug 2005, p.92]

70

All Music Guide

Hard-Fi's desire to create something solid enjoyable in the midst of everyday monotony is what makes Stars of CCTV an enjoyable first effort.

Read Full Review >
70

PopMatters

Exciting, catchy and highly promising.

Read Full Review >
60

Under The Radar

Hard-Fi don't quite have the lyrical prowess or songwriting chops yet to make the dent they'd like. [#13, p.92]

60

Rolling Stone

Their Clash-inspired punk funk bites music ideas from the Specials and the Happy Mondays, but singer Richard Archer gets his songs from street life, dead-end jobs, run-ins with the law.

Read Full Review >
60

Blender

A slice of British street life with strut, and guitars. [Apr 2006, p.112]

60

Playlouder

Musically there's nothing on 'Stars of CCTV' that stands out as particularly innovative or imaginative[;] it's above average modern indie fare made with gusto by people who want to make records that sound like the records they like: The Clash, The Specials, The Verve and a bunch of other bygone Britpoppers.

Read Full Review >
50

Slant Magazine

Cribbing from Franz Ferdinand's sonic playbook (with a healthy dose of fellow revivalists Dead 60s, Kasabian, and--why not?--Kaiser Chiefs thrown in), Hard-Fi builds roiling, angsty anthems built upon Richard Archer's stark evocations of life in suburban London.

Read Full Review >
50

Tiny Mix Tapes

There isn't much about Stars Of CCTV that hasn't already been done and better.

Read Full Review >
40

Mojo

A steely-eyed desperation to succeed is transparent all through Hard-Fi's debut. [Aug 2005, p.112]

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 8.5 (out of 10) based on 36 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Edward M gave it a10:
Probably the most energetic album I've heard in the last 5 years. It takes a few listens to fully appreciate, but after that you'll be hooked.

Lucky gave it a10:
A great combination of punk, reggae, dance, and ska. Definitely worth checking out.

Cat gave it a9:
Surprisingly good. One of the better debuts in recent times.

Shay gave it a9:
I'm stunned at how good this album is, considering I had no idea who these guys where and if it wasn't for a co-worker of mine (a girl) recommending them to me I would of missed out on this incredible album. Anyway, Buy it! You won't regret it.

Mike gave it a10:
Awesome debut

J J gave it a9:
Really cool album. Fun and energetic, also very addictive. Can't wait for there 2nd album.

Meat Bag gave it a10:
Wow!! This album is amazing. The only reason I listened to it was because one of my friends recommended them to me. At first they sounded abit to much like the Clash, who are by the way, my favorite band!! So, by my 4th time through the album, I realized these guys are really, really good. They do a great mixing punk with reggae, dance, jazz and ska which ends making this album a great listen. Living for the Weekend, Better Do Better, Unnecessary Trouble, Move On Now are really amazing songs but to me the standout tracks are Middle Eastern Holiday, awsome song. Which reminds me alot of the Police, and Tied Up Too Tight which is without a doubt the best song on the album, is epic, powerful, & uplifting, and one of the best songs in years. Overall, Hard-Fi has tremendous potential, and this album proves it. There a long, long way from reaching the greatness of the Clash but...I wouldn't be surprise if one day they end up making there own "London Calling".

Read more user comments >

Popular on CBS sites: SEC Football | NFL | Video Game Cheats | iPhone | Video Game Reviews | Notebooks | Antivirus Software

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use